Yet Kell seemed undismayed by her distraught state. With a cool smile, he stepped between her parted legs and gathered her against his chest until her nipples nestled against his hard muscles, until the big rod of his straining arousal teased her throbbing feminine warmth.

Raven felt the shock of his naked flesh against her and quivered.

“Want me?” he asked, his masterful arms holding her lightly.

“Yes,” she answered, desire flooding in a mad rush, sweeping resistance before it.

She yielded willingly when he lay her back again upon the desk, trembling to feel the hard length of his body pinning her against the surface, anticipation taut and screaming through her senses. She hadn’t realized how desperate she was for this. It was as if her body had been starved for a man’s hardness, for Kell’s hardness. She wanted, needed, craved an end to the restless, hot longing he had created in her.

She could feel the heat of his rigid flesh probing her soft folds…

The same heat was in his eyes as he entered her slowly, gliding into her yielding, wet flesh. Raven drew a sharp breath as the fiery brand intruded into her delicate softness.

His kiss scorched the arch of her throat as he pushed into her. “Can you take all of me?” he murmured, his voice a rough rasp.

“Yes…” she panted. And she gasped aloud at the feel of him, huge and hot and urgent, forcing her wide open.

He held himself still then, waiting for her to grow accustomed to the feel of his engorged shaft inside her. It was a long moment before Raven relaxed beneath him.

“That’s it,” he praised in a hoarse whisper. “I want you flowing all around me like hot wild honey…”

He kissed her then. He cupped her breasts, erotically kneading them, while his tongue plunged rhythmically into her receptive mouth in a bold, sexual way. His taste, his scent, his touch filled her senses as he began moving inside her.

Raven whimpered into his mouth, her inner muscles tightening at the wet, white heat scalding her. She felt frenzied, unable to get enough of him.

Kell felt the same pulsing urgency in his body. Knowing his control was nearly at the breaking point, he gathered up the trembling, sexually aroused woman in his arms and lifted her. Still iron-hard within her, he swiftly crossed to the connecting door to his bedchamber.

He had planned to carry her to his bed but suddenly knew he couldn’t make it. So he pressed her up against the door and thrust deeply.

The painfully intense pleasure made them both shudder wildly.

He took her against the door, hard. His hand raked through her hair, sending the anchoring pins flying, while his mouth found hers, not letting her move or twist away. He felt her response, felt the convulsive movements of her hips arching into him as the heat of animal hunger flared between them.

Raven felt the same intense heat as his hard, straining body moved against her, branding her with his desire. He ravished her with fierce demand, yet she wasn’t afraid; she welcomed his fierceness.

Shuddering under the force of his thrusts, she rocked forward against him with desperate yearning. A roaring sounded in her ears as the exquisite pressure built. Raven tossed her head wildly, pumping her hips against him with frantic need.

Suddenly his muscles clenched. His head thrown back, his neck corded, he drove into her one final time. A moan burst out of him as his orgasm exploded in a powerful stream, pushing Raven over the edge. With a scream, she sank her teeth into the raw silk of his bare shoulder and gave herself up to the savage, unrestrained pleasure ripping through her.

They clung to each other in the aftermath, gasping for breath. An eternity later, Kell returned to earth to find Raven hiding her face against the base of his throat, her heart beating in a frenzied echo of his own.

Concern swept through him. His use of her had been devastatingly thorough; he had taken her with a pirate’s passion, with little regard for her inexperience.

Leaning back, he studied her flushed face, her swollen, bruised lips. “Did I hurt you?” he rasped.

“No,” she said quickly. And yet there was a vulnerable look about the mouth he had just ravished.

Searing heat and fierce tenderness filled him. He wanted to make it right. Next time he would show her more gentleness.

And there would definitely be a next time. He was tired of fighting his desire for her. Raven was his wife, and he wanted her; he should be able to have her.

Surely he could command enough strength of will to enjoy her body without falling for her. To slake his urgent need and still resist her incredible allure.

It would be difficult, but he was through denying himself.

His arms tightened about her for a moment, crushing her naked breasts to his chest. Keeping her legs wrapped around his hips, he managed to open the door and carry her to the bed, where he laid her down and stood staring down at her.

The room was dark but for the low-burning fire in the hearth, but Raven had no trouble seeing the glimmer of heat in his gaze or her own dishevelment. Her skirts and bodice were both tangled around her middle.

Blushing at her near nakedness, she stirred restlessly. “My gown is ruined…” she murmured, plucking at her bodice.

“I’ll buy you a new one,” he replied as he began to strip her of her garments.

“Kell…what are you doing?”

“Undressing you. You’ll stay here tonight. You haven’t fully satisfied me yet.”

“Kell…” Raven bit her lower lip. She had agreed to attend to his sexual needs, not spend the night in his bed. “I don’t want to stay here with you.”

“Why not?”

“Because…it could lead to unwanted complications.”

That made him pause. “Physical intimacy can breed too much emotional intimacy, is that what you mean?”

She shivered. “Yes.”

Without replying, he removed her clothing completely, then eased the covers from beneath her hips and drew them up over her naked body. After going to the hearth and stoking the fire, Kell returned to the bed and slid in next to her. For a moment he lay beside her, staring at the ceiling, his arms laced behind his head. Finally he spoke.

“Do I understand your reservations correctly? You’re afraid to have a real lover because you’re determined never to fall in love?”

“Yes.” In a defensive gesture, Raven clutched the cover to her breasts.

Kell turned onto his side, supporting his head on one hand. “And yet sex and love are two entirely different matters. Passion doesn’t necessarily lead to love. If it did, most of the men of the beau monde would be in love with their mistresses.”

When she didn’t reply, he reached out to brush a tendril of hair from her cheek. “I see no reason we cannot be lovers, Raven. A relationship based purely on sensual pleasure. Like you, I’m not interested in anything deeper.”

Raven held herself rigid, wanting to look away from his eyes that seemed too burningly intense.

She couldn’t deny that she was afraid. Passion was dangerous; it could lead to terrible vulnerability. Yet perhaps Kell was right: the true danger didn’t lie in physical intimacy but in that of the emotional kind. A man could take pleasure from her body, but if he ensnared her heart, he took control.

Raven shuddered. She would never suffer a tragic love as her mother had. No man would ever render her senseless, without a will of her own.

Still, passion of the flesh didn’t always result in passion of the heart…

As if sensing her inner turmoil, Kell slipped his hand beneath the covers, resting his palm lightly on her breast. “Since we are tied together as man and wife, we might as well indulge ourselves.”

His warm, erotic touch distracted her, preventing her from forming a coherent reply.

“You enjoy my lovemaking, vixen,” he added in a low tone. “Your response a moment ago very clearly proved that.” He smiled knowingly. “Not many women are as responsive as you are. Your body craves my touch.” As if to prove his point, he brushed her peaked nipple with his thumb, making her arch involuntarily.

She did crave his touch, Raven thought in desperation, perhaps too much. And his brazen lovemaking…Trapped in his dark gaze, she stared back at him. It had thrilled her to have Kell take her like he had, as her pirate lover would have.

She swallowed against the dryness in her throat, struggling to break the hold Kell’s eyes had upon her. Was it possible, what he was suggesting? Could they engage in purely carnal relations without physical intimacy blossoming into anything deeper? Could she indulge in a passionate affair with her convenient husband without losing her heart?

Perhaps so…

But there were other considerations as well.

“What of the possible consequences?” she asked. “What about children?”

His features darkened in a frown. “What about them?”

“I don’t want to bring a child into this world without a father to love him, to care for him…”

“There are means of preventing pregnancy. We failed to take precautions tonight, but that can be remedied.”

Raven frowned as well, remembering how Kell had withdrawn from her body on their wedding night. “You are not interested in having children?”

“I’m not anxious to, no.”

She couldn’t read his impassive expression. “Not even to gain an heir? You wouldn’t want one someday?”

“Sean is my legal heir. That is enough for me.”

Raven stiffened at the mention of his brother and hastened to change the subject. “I know from the journal how to prevent pregnancy, but I have no idea how to obtain the necessary means.”